LEGOLAND ® Florida Hotel (Winter Haven, Florida)

Attraction & Entertainment Solutions (A&ES) has completed a nationally recognized themed scenic environment, LEGOLAND® DUPLO Valley (Orlando, FL) for Merlin Entertainments. Visionary and innovator John Oldham, president of A&ES, the sole theming contractor for the LEGOLAND® Florida Hotel expansion, is proud and passionate about the final launch of the new high-profile visitor environment that recently opened. The scope of services included:

Dragon Tower (Tower Clocks, RGB LED effects)

Porte-Cochere

Castle

Pirate Ship

Restaurant (entry façade)

LEGO ® Trees, Street Lamps, Model-Making Tables

Sound and LED F/X (7 elements)

TV Cabinets

Hotel Lobby (brick pit, lobby display)

“We are proud A&ES’ experienced executive and creative team was selected for its leadership and aesthetic excellence among global competitors to design, build and install a major themed environment for the LEGOLAND® Florida Hotel,” stated Oldham.

“Our successful history of developing dynamic signature-themed products and thrilling elements from conception to completion are found throughout this nationally recognized hotel.”

A&ES is expert in iconic branding by designing, engineering, fabricating, artistically executing, installing, finishing and project management by collaborating and coordinating with the on-site architects and engineers, all laser-focused on the execution and launching of the LEGO® DUPLO concept of the hotel.

This project included completion of the Dragon Tower, a four-story high (plus 40 feet) project using proprietary composite honeycomb fiberglass-to-skin techniques and processes. The iconic molded dragon feature is located at the entry of the hotel and interfaces with the A&ES-designed Porte-Cochere. A&ES fabricated the visibly geared and working external quad Tower Clockson the Tower’s entry façade complete with a phenomenally exciting CO2 effect showcasing a dynamic and overwhelmingly impressive dragon blowing intense smoke-like steam from giant sculpted and bulging 3D nostrils highlighted with LED multi-color lighting effects, all encapsulated in steel and fiberglass. Four well-recognized LEGO® characters are cornered externally on the bottom as if providing a foundation to hold up the tower.

Highlighting the extraordinary talented A&ES team, the Castle features an implied “stacked LEGO® brick” pattern of which is theme-painted to replicate LEGO® blocks. The Castle’s well-recognized-in-miniature modular towers and flag, as well as the coat-of-arms and drawbridge ramp over the moat and torches by the gargantuan drawbridge doors, bring forward excitement and light the imagination of youngsters and adult alike who ambulate inside. Trees offer sitting areas for adults while children look up-and-around with hands waved and shrieking voices as a result of animated eagerness to experience more and more of the environment.

The Pirate Ship features fully themed walls and a bow mimicking a tall-masted and cannon-laden 17th century Spanish Galleon treasure-seeking sailing ships of the past with railings to keep the crowd moving. The prominent buccaneer’s ship wheel is a center attraction reminding the participant of pirates sailing high on the mighty crest of sea waves with billowy canvas sails floating above to create a tickling of the senses. The figurehead on the bow is reminiscent of the many hand-carved ladies facing the ocean wind leading the ship as it sails in unchartered waters.

A&ES’ innovations are much sought after around the world, as projects are precisely estimated, carefully executed and completed on budget and on time – every time. It is the elegance of design and all-senses realism that separates A&ES from its competitors.